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Light level as an environmental cue for foraging in Red Harvester Ants

Light level as an environmental cue for foraging in Red Harvester Ants. Zoe Henrichs & Matt Brown . Test Organism. Pogonomyrmex barbatus. Purpose & Hypothesis . Investigation into the environmental cues influencing foraging behaviour and activity. To test light level as foraging inducer

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Light level as an environmental cue for foraging in Red Harvester Ants

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  1. Light level as an environmental cue for foraging in Red Harvester Ants Zoe Henrichs & Matt Brown

  2. Test Organism Pogonomyrmexbarbatus

  3. Purpose & Hypothesis • Investigation into the environmental cues influencing foraging behaviour and activity. • To test light level as foraging inducer • Hypothesized most activity would be seen in starved ants under brightest light.

  4. Materials & Methods • Ants kept under 24-hour dark cycle. • Red light used as control • Timed ants dispersal to the other end of chamber under varying light intensities • 10 trials at every intensity, 5 minute limit

  5. Results Mean time of starved vs. non-starved groups at varying light intensities

  6. Results

  7. Starved vsNon-starved Non starved Starved

  8. Discussion • Results contradicted hypothesis (Denebourgh, Depickere and Fresneau 2004) • Slower mean times at high light intensity • No even distribution of results • Overlap in SD • Variance of results • Small sample number

  9. Discussion • Ways to improve future studies • Control temperatures (Cole et al 2013) • Separate brood-tenders and foragers (Deneubourg, Depikere and Fresneau 2005) • Stimulation - trail laying and interaction (Bala et al 2013) • Many unknowns • Effects of environmental cues aren’t widely studied • Climate change and preservation

  10. Time to complete trial (red vs normal light)

  11. % failing to complete the trial

  12. References Bala A, Gordon D, Holmes S, Merrell A, Stumpe M, Queirolo J, Pinter-Wollman N. 2013. Harvester ants use interactions to regulate forager activation and availability. Animal Behavior. 86.197-207 Cole B, Huber Z, Smith A, Wiernasz D. 2009. The structure of foraging activity in colonies of the harvester ant, Pogonomyrmexoccidentalis. Behavioral Ecology. 21. 337-342. Deneubourg J., Detrain C., Mailleux A. 2005. Triggering and persistence of trail-laying in foragers of the ant Lasiusniger. Journal of Insect Physiology. 51. 297-304. Deneubourg J., Depickere S., Fresneau D. 2004. The influence of red light on the aggregation of the ant Lasiusniger. Journal of Insect Physiology. 50. 629-635. Gordon D. 2001. Ants at work: how an insect society is organized. Philosophy of Science. 68. 268-270. Hemmi J, Narendra A, Reid S. 2010. The twilight zone: ambient light levels trigger activity in primitive ants. Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 227: 1531-1538.

  13. References Hobbs R.J. 1985. Harvester ant foraging and plant species distribution in annual grassland. Oecologia. 67. 519-523. Ingram K, Kleeman L, Peteru S. 2011. Differential regulation of the foraging gene associated with task behaviors in harvester ants. BMC Ecology. 11. 19. Jayatilaka P, Narendra A, Radershall C, Zeil J. 1994. Individual foraging patterns of the jack jumper ant Myrmeciacroslandi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News. 19. 75-83. Rosengren R., Fortelius W. 1986 Light : dark induced activity rhythms in Formica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Entomol. Gener.11, 221–228. Ruano F, Soler J, Tinaut A. 1999. High surface temperatures select for individual foraging in ants. Behavioral Ecology. 11. 396-404. Traniello, J. 1989: Foraging strategies of ants. Annual review of Entomology.34: 191-210

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